Tag: oil

via Clean Technica – Steve Hanley – Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi have studied the microbes found on several shipwrecks in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon, the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that exploded in 2010, killing 11 workers and spewing an estimated 4 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf. Their research, published June 28 in the journal Scientific Reports, claims the oil residue has caused fundamental changes in those microbes, which play an important role in carbon dioxide absorption by the oceans and are essential building blocks in the food chain for marine life.

“At the sites closest to the spill, biodiversity was flattened,” Leila Hamdan, a microbial ecologist at the University of Southern Mississippi and lead author of the study, tells The Guardian. “There were fewer types of microbes. This is a cold, dark environment and anything you put down there will be longer lasting than oil on a beach in Florida. It’s premature to imagine that all the effects of the spill are over and remediated.”

It appears President Trump’s remarks about the lack of progress made by China in pressuring North Korea has worked. Reuters reports that CNPC – the main supplier of diesel and gasoline to North Korea – has halted sales,reportedly because the buyers could not pay.

A week after the President said that “while I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!

Qatar opened the Middle East’s first centre for clearing transactions in the Chinese yuan on Tuesday, saying it would boost trade and investment between China and Gulf Arab economies.

“The launch of the region’s first renminbi clearing center in Doha creates the necessary platform to realise the full potential of Qatar and the region’s trade relationship with China,” Qatar’s central bank governor Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud al-Thani said at a ceremony.

“It will facilitate greater cross-border renminbi investment and financing business, and promote greater trade and economic links between China and the region, paving the way for better financial cooperation and enhancing the pre-eminence of Qatar as a financial hub in MENA (Middle East and North Africa).”